Hmm... I agree with parts of what he said. Yup, this country has rapidly grown more secular in the past few decades. Yes, there are a number of laws and rules and such kicking religiosity out of the public sphere, especially when said religiosity is of the Christian flavor.

But, and this is a huge but here, I cringe at the linking of children's murders to America's increasing secularization. Besides seeming incredibly heartless (yeah, way to comfort the grieving parents and siblings... your kid is gone because of the sins of millions of others...), it just doesn't make sense. By all accounts, western Europe's godlessness could totally whip our godlessness, yet we still have had far more Columbines.

I don't doubt the governor's sincerity, but among other things,
he might want to think about the declining rate of school violence.
According to data compiled by the National Center for Education
Statistics, schools have been getting safer and less violent at
least over the past couple of decades - despite what Huckabee would
doubtless consider a period of rising godlessness. During the
school year of 1992-93, for instance, the number of on-location
murders of students and staff at
K-12 public schools was 47 (out of population of millions). In
2009-2010 (the latest year for which data is listed), the number
was 25. Over the same period,
the rate on victimizations per 1,000 students for theft dropped
from 101 to 18. For violent crimes, the rate dropped from 53 to 14.
And for "serious violent" crimes, the rate dropped from 8 to 4.

So it just doesn't follow through. Sorry. Numbers aside, this theme is quite popular among Evangelical Christians right now.Karen Spears Zacharias writes:

What shames me is that in claiming the name of Jesus I immediately become associated with some of the most judgmental people: Evangelicals in the hands of an angry God.

And Tennessee Pastor Sam Morris stood before his congregation and told them the following about the murders in Newtown:

- We ought to “string Adam Lanza up in public and set his body on fire and leave it out there to let the birds pick his bones.”
- “We
get all up in arms about 20 children being shot in a day care but we
don’t give one good-glory rip about the 4,000 that were removed
violently from the wombs of their mothers [in abortion procedures] the
same day,” he explained. “I believe they use children and Christmas and
all that to pull on our heart strings about gun control. That’s what
it’s all about.”
-“What’s behind this shooting that we
saw on Dec. 14 in Newtown, Connecticut and the other one’s like it?
What’s going on. Well, number one, deception… I got news for you, when
you kicked God out of schools, you’re going to be judged for that.”

Poor God. Do you think he ever ashamed to be associated with the likes of us Evangelicals?

I don't know the mind of God, but Lord have mercy, I'm embarrassed, and I'm not even Evangelical. Do I think there's some truth in those quotes? Yeah, sure, but even a stopped clock is right twice a day.

With the recent loss of my sister, I've been experiencing my own pain. It sucks. One day Jos was here, the next, her husband came home to her body. I'm not sure if it's possible for me to ever truly understand it.

One thing I do, though, is meditate on my Uncle Curtis' eulogy, about how horrible, unexplainable tragedies occur, not as God's vengeful wrath, but as part of this broken world.

Me in bed... tre sexy?

I know this won't sit right in the minds of so many. We like to think, if I'm a good Christian, pay my tithes, don't cheat, read my Bible, well then, I'll be blessed, tenfold even. The consummate overachieving, straight "A", middle child that I was, I believed it, too. But life happened. I have health issues, ones so bad I had to leave my job. And now I'm broker than 18 year old me (and I was hella broke then making $5.50/hr.). If it weren't for K... Did my godlessness bring about my sorry state of affairs? Nah... turning back to Karen's post:

When will Evangelicals ever learn that we are not sinners in the hands
of an angry God, but dear ones grasped by the nail-scarred hands of
Christ?

Thanks for highlighting this, Li... it's one of my "soapbox" issues as well.

Armchair pharisees who pontificate about our societal ills, as if their pronouncements will magically correct the problems, and then hide behind God's supposed judgments when things don't improve, only serve to reinforce the image that we followers of Christ are a useless bunch of religious nuts with nothing real to offer in the way of solutions.

(Did I mention this is a "soapbox" issue for me?)

When I hear people invoking God's judgments for calamity, or especially, blaming Him for not stopping it, my response now is, "Well, who did He leave in charge?"

I realize that question opens up a huge can of worms for some folks, but honestly it's a meal long overdue in some circles.

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About Me

To borrow some words from Drake, "I'm more than just a number." But if I WERE a number, it would be 7. Since it's God's number, the 7th day is one to rest, and... well, I think it rocks. But if life were a scale of 1-10, then me being a 7 fits too, because I'm not perfect. But I'm not your average girl, either. :-) I'm 30, a Christ-follower, slightly off kilter (but aren't all "ar-teeests"?), and happily married to Keiron, my solid and strong rock. And Techie-extraordinaire. We are the proud parents of a baby girl, Zoe. Hope you enjoy my rantings, don't take my sarcasm too seriously and know that comments are welcome. Very welcome... ahem, HINT, HINT, HINT! But enough about me, time for this 7 to give it a rest. xoxox

"While reading your blog I often sense a certain amount of conviction on your behalf, which makes me wonder why isn’t everyone reading the blogs of a woman who actually “gets it.”Don, at Minus The Bars"A curious mix of the sacred and profane...too nice for a run of the mill blog? "Joe, my brother, author of The Blog of Blogs"Are you really bored or something?"Joscelyne, my sister"Pretty f****ing intense."Reader Brooke Farmer, on this entry.

"A great outlet for such a prolific mind and an entertaining mix of spirituality and current events."Keiron, my husband, also known on here as K, or my Knight & Sunshine